It’s funny isn’t it? We spend so much of our adult life look back on the past, considering what we could or should have done differently, where we went wrong perhaps, reflecting on what brought us to this place we’re at right now. Children are the opposite; the youngest ones living in the moment, the here-and-now, the life that they’re living. The older ones looking to the future, what their life might become, who they will be, what they will do. Perhaps these stages of humanity aren’t so surprising, but as we get older I find we often wished that we lived in the moment more, that we appreciated the here and now a bit more, that we didn’t let life pass us by in snatches and snapshots. Our own children take us back a stage or two, sometimes we are able to live in the moment with them, joyous, elusive soap bubbles of perfection when everything is just as it should be. And very often, we think of the future again, what life we’d like our little ones to have, and how we can bring this about.
As a soon to be mother-of-two, I find myself in a new place, a place where I am happy not to reflect (too much) on the life that’s gone by, but to look ahead to the glorious future I want for my family. A life filled with joy, laughter, fun and imagination. A life beyond the often grim news stories, the rising inflation, the now ever-present threat of global catastrophe that seems to hang over our heads.
My firstborn son is nearly 2 years old. He doesn’t let the outside world get him down. He builds castles and drives tractors and captains pirate ships. He lets his imagination take him wherever it will, and while skinned knees and dropped ice creams are real concerns, they don’t get in the way of the important business of childhood, and that is just what I want for him.
We’re pretty lucky on the whole. We live in a stunning and fairly remote part of Scotland, on a dairy farm which my partner’s family has farmed for generations. I’ve given up (for the moment) working in practice as a veterinary surgeon, and am embracing the farm life with my family, something I wouldn’t want to trade. Every day is a new adventure, and now into my 2nd trimester of my 2nd pregnancy, the days ahead will only get more interesting. Welcome to our new world, I hope you’ll join us for awhile.
How the Cheese Crumbles and Other Tales from the Farm 